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Category:    Home > Reviews > Music Variety Specials > The Captain & Tennille – Songbook + The TV Specials (The Christmas Show/In Hawaii/In New Orleans/Retroactive DVD)

The Captain & Tennille – Songbook + The TV Specials (The Christmas Show/In Hawaii/In New Orleans/Retroactive DVD)

 

Picture: C+/C+/C+/C     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Specials: B-/C+/C+/C+

 

 

After having one of the biggest hit shows and some of the biggest hit records in the mid-1970s, Darryl Dragon and Toni Tennille felt the strain of juggling both hit records and their variety show was becoming too much.  Their Captain & Tennille variety show was a big hit for ABC and a fun show, for intentional and unintentional reasons, but it was of the moment and many were sad to hear the news.  As an alternative, they would do TV specials for the network and to keep their pre-MTV exposure going.  Now, these shows are on DVD.

 

You can star with their classic show by reading our coverage at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3126/The+Captain+&+Tennille+-+The+Ult

 

 

The new singles, with the first three TV specials also available as a three-DVD set, offer the following:

 

Songbook includes duets with Ella Fitzgerald, Glen Campbell and B.B. King, eliminates any skits or comedy in what was their final special in 1979.  Soon, they would have their final two hits as they jumped from A&M to Casablanca Records and their careers on top were over.  At least this was their best special, the one they ended on.

 

The Christmas Show is from 1976, has The Pointer Sisters as their only guests and is one of the stronger shows, if not always a great one.  Tennille is interesting covering How Can I Be Sure and when all plus the Tennille Sisters join in on O Holy Night, some may expect Paul Shaffer to turn up at any moment.

 

In Hawaii was taped in 1978 and is a good show with some howler moments, as they are joined by Don Knotts, David Soul and Kenny Rogers.  David Soul does Tomorrow’s Child (not by Dead Can Dance!),Tennille sings Billy Joel’s Just The Way You Are and Mr. Dragon does the theme from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, making it an encounter of quite a different kind and one all Spielberg and Williams’ obsessees should see.

 

In New Orleans was the last of the comedy specials with music and is the poorest, which is why they were quitting while they were almost ahead, also from 1978.  Jon Byner, Fats Domino and Hal Linden (Barney Miller himself) joins the duo, but Linden actually tries to sing the David Gates (of Bread) title song to the feature film version of Neil Simon’s The Goodbye Girl.  Tennille and her sisters almost outdo that no-no with a laid back Country/Adult Contemporary version of The Doobie Brothers’ Black Water a key or two too high, but the scenery of pre-Katrina New Orleans is the sudden new star.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image looks good off of the NTSC analog video reels except Hawaii looking more second generation than the others.  The remaining discs have relatively solid color fidelity for its age.  The Dolby Digital 5.1, 2.0 Stereo and 2.0 Mono mixes show their age all in their own way, but are all still fine, though I prefer the non-monos.  Extras on all four include audio commentary on the shows by the stars.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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